when we first got doc, he would get horrible rashes on his neck from his collar--bleeding, scabby rashes caused by the collar rubbing his sensitive (bald) neck. changing his diet helped a lot, as did taking off his collar frequently to give his neck a chance to breathe.

i was just away unexpectedly for a week, and when i'm gone it's a rule that all the dogs wear their collars at all times. by the time i got back yesterday afternon, doc's neck looked like hamburger. i washed it with chlorhexidine wash and left his collar off. today he's wearing a fursaver, which is what he'll wear till this neck rash clears up. his rash is drying out but his neck feels like leather, and when he scratches at it, he rips it open and it bleeds.

i'm looking for something that'll help dry this rash out and speed the healing . . . any thoughts? i considered applying some witch hazel, but i don't know if that'll sting too much. rob suggested bag balm, but i was concerned that it would be too moist and not let the rash dry out enough.

The chlorhexidine should be enough to keep it clean, prevent infection and speed up the healing. You could apply a tiny bit of bag balm on it over night.
Also you could boil up a very strong batch of chamomile tea, let it cool down until it is lukewarm, soak a washcloth in it and just hold it on the sore spots on his neck for a few minutes. Chamomile tea is a great natural anti-inflammatory and is excellent for skin irritations or eczema. Hope this helps.

Synthetic materials and dyes from cheap leathers can irritate and you will never get over the problem.

Also have known dogs who are allergic to the metals from collars (but that was a temporary weird autoimmune thing following an over-vaccination incident).

Start out with a high quality leather collar (not a cheap or thin one) and condition the heck out of it. A good leather collar should blend with your dog's natural oils and almost become a second skin.

Not to sound like an advertisement, but these collars helped my dog get over his neck rash: http://www.pacocollars.comAlso heard stories from toy dog owners, who notoriously suffer from this, who have found similar success.

Good luck, it's hard when they're hurting so much but you also need to keep i.d. on them!

anything that rubs on his neck for a long period of time will cause problems unless i take it off on a regular basis. even his fursaver will eventually wear on his neck if he pulls on it too much when we walk. he has a bald neck, and i'm pretty sure that's the main problem.

anything that rubs on his neck for a long period of time will cause problems unless i take it off on a regular basis. even his fursaver will eventually wear on his neck if he pulls on it too much when we walk. he has a bald neck, and i'm pretty sure that's the main problem.

Ella's neck acts up like this. Well, not the hamburger part, but she is bald on her neck as well.
In fact, we took her into the vet for it last night. The only thing that cleared her up was, I had to give her antibiotics, bathe her once or twice a week in chlorhexiderm 4% shampoo, and wipe down her neck with chlorhexiderm flush everytime we came in from outside. Which you already are wiping him down with chlorhexidine stuff. I wonder if malaseb wipes would help?
I, too, have to keep her in a fursaver and I had to stop using her harness.

I have to walk Ella doubled collar, as I don't trust one collar (even if it's her fur saver). So, I put her fur saver below her flat collar (farthest from her head) because it prevents her other collar from landing on the sensitive spots during our walks.

Is there a powder you could put on it? I don't know if such a powder exists, but powder would keep that area dry, which I think would allow it to heal faster.

Pigskin suede has been bleached and all the natural oils stripped from the leather, hemp is a plant, and the seatbelt is synthetic (and is probably slippery enough not to fray and irritate, hence the success).

Right now it's like a bad case of the runs and his system needs a break from everything. Let his neck fully heal, walk him on a halti, and when you re-introduce him to neckwear do it gently.

Go to a local saddle maker and get a latigo leather collar. They can probably make you one from scraps for a few bucks (to save on materials you can probably hand over a beat up old nylon collar for parts). Have them treat it with mink oil or another conditioner. They'll have all the stuff on hand. I bet you that will solve the problem in the long run so it doesn't keep cropping up. Trust me, I know your pain!

you know, malaseb wipes would be good to have handy. thanks for reminding me of those! and i'm not sure about powders . . . i have an all natural baby powder from burt's bees. maybe i'll check the ingredients in it when i get home later.

Of course, all the links I can find associate it with ovarian cancer, so Doc is safe there, but I know when I first read about it I went home and freaked out about how much talc was in my house. It left shortly thereafter by means of my trash man.

Pigskin suede has been bleached and all the natural oils stripped from the leather, hemp is a plant, and the seatbelt is synthetic (and is probably slippery enough not to fray and irritate, hence the success).

Right now it's like a bad case of the runs and his system needs a break from everything. Let his neck fully heal, walk him on a halti, and when you re-introduce him to neckwear do it gently.

Go to a local saddle maker and get a latigo leather collar. They can probably make you one from scraps for a few bucks (to save on materials you can probably hand over a beat up old nylon collar for parts). Have them treat it with mink oil or another conditioner. They'll have all the stuff on hand. I bet you that will solve the problem in the long run so it doesn't keep cropping up. Trust me, I know your pain!

Funny you suggest latigo leather, because he was wearing a nice, soft latigo leather collar while I was away. We have a couple of those. Like I said, it's not the material in the collar, it's the fact that he's got anything on his neck 24/7 that causes the problem. Dunno if he gets moisture and food and muck in there (probably) because he's such a pig or what, but anything at all left on the front of this dog's neck long enough will eventually cause rub.

This is not a problem we deal with on a regular basis--it's a problem that we haven't had in so long that I can't remember the last time it happened because usually I either A) take his collars off once in a while before his neck gets irritated (once a week or so); or B) leave his seatbelt collar on when I'm not going to be around because that one rubs him the least.

I don't really need a new collar. Just looking for ways to heal a wound and dry it out so it heals faster.

I will be trying cornstarch next time Ella's neck starts acting up.
I am able to remove her collars nightly, but while out of her crate, unless she's getting a bath, she will always have a flat collar on.